# The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Author: [Edward Gibbon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon.md) - Quotes: 73 - Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-gibbon/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire ## Quotes > Benevolence is the foundation of Justice, since we are forbidden to injure those we are bound to assist. A prophet may reveal the secrets of Heaven and futurity, but in his moral precepts he can only repeat the lessons of our own hearts. > To an active mind, indolence is more painful than labor ... Topics: [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md) > In the spirit of enthusiasm or vanity, the prophet [Muhammad] rests the truth of his mission on the merit of his book; audaciously challenges both men and angels to imitate the beauties of a single page; and presumes to assert that God alone could dictate this incomparable performance. This argument is most powerfully addressed to a devout Arabian, whose mind is attuned to faith and rapture; whose ear is delighted by the music of sounds; and whose ignorance is incapable of comparing the productions of human genius... If the composition of the Koran exceed the faculties of a man to what superior intelligence should we ascribe the Iliad of Homer, or the Philippics of Demosthenes? Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive. > The incredible speed which Maximin exerted in his flight is much more celebrated than his prowess in the battle. > Such was the unhappy condition of the Roman emperors, that, whatever might be their conduct, their fate was commonly the same. A life of pleasure or virtue, of severity or mildness, of indolence or glory, alike led to an untimely grave; and almost every reign is closed by the same disgusting repetition of treason and murder. Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death.md), [fate](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fate.md) > A state of scepticism and suspense may amuse a few inquisitive minds. But the practice of superstition is so congenial to the multitude that, if they are forcibly awakened, they still regret the loss of their pleasing vision. ... So urgent on the vulgar is the necessity of believing, that the fall of any system of mythology will most probably be succeeded by the introduction of some other mode of superstition. Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [faith](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith.md) > Constantine was satisfied that secret impunity would be less pernicious than public scandal, and the Nicene council was edified by his public declaration, that, if he surprised a bishop in the act of adultery, he should cast his Imperial mantle over the episcopal sinner. Topics: [hypocrisy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy.md), [appearances](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances.md) > When Aurelian assumed his seat, his manly grace and majestic figure taught the barbarians to revere the person as well as the purple of the conqueror. Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md) > The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators. Topics: [success and failure](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/success-and-failure.md) > Like Augustus, Diocletian may be considered as the founder of a new empire. Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of describing Religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more melancholy duty is imposed on the historian. He must discover the inevitable mixture of error and corruption which she contracted in a long residence upon earth, among a weak and degenerate race of beings. Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > The ideas of inheritance and succession are so very familiar that the generality of mankind consider them as founded not only in reason but in nature itself. > Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery. > It was in the school of Alexandria that the Christian theology appears to have assumed a regular and scientifical form. Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > Our habits of thinking so fondly connect the order of the universe with the fate of man, that this gloomy period of history has been decorated with inundations, earthquakes, uncommon meteors, preternatural darkness, and a crowd of prodigies fictitious or exaggerated. Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > In every age the Persians have been addicted to intemperance, and the wines of Shiraz have triumphed over the law of Mahomet. > If we consult the succeeding writers ... their knowledge will appear gradually to increase as their means of information must have diminished, a circumstance which frequently occurs in historical disquisition. Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > In a distant age and climate the tragic scene of the death of Hussyn will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader. > The traveller who has contemplated the ruins of ancient Rome may conceive some imperfect idea of the sentiments which they must have inspired when they reared their heads in the splendour of unsullied beauty. Topics: [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md) > The same timid policy, of dividing whatever is united, of reducing whatever is eminent, of dreading every active power, and of expecting that the most feeble will be the most obedient, seems to pervade the institutions of several princes, and particularly those of Constantine. Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md) > When Gallienus received the intelligence that his capital was delivered from the barbarians, he was much less delighted than alarmed with the courage of the senate, since it might one day prompt them to rescue the public from domestic tyranny as well as from foreign invasion. His timid ingratitude was published to his subjects, in an edict which prohibited the senators from exercising any military employment, and even from approaching the camps of the legions. But his fears were groundless. The rich and luxurious nobles, sinking into their natural character, accepted, as a favor, this disgraceful exemption from military service; and as long as they were indulged in the enjoyment of their baths, their theatres, and their villas, they cheerfully resigned the more dangerous cares of empire to the rough hands of peasants and soldiers. Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md) > [C]aution and vigilance are the most important lessons of the art of war. Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > The example and reputation of Constantine seemed to countenance the delay of baptism. Future tyrants were encouraged to believe that the innocent blood which they might shed in a long reign would instantly be washed away in the waters of regeneration; and the abuse of religion dangerously undermined the foundations of moral virtue. Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md) > Such is the constitution of civil society, that whilst a few persons are distinguished by riches, by honors, and by knowledge, the body of the people is condemned to obscurity, ignorance and poverty. The Christian religion, which addressed itself to the whole human race, must consequently collect a far greater number of proselytes from the lower than from the superior ranks of life. This innocent and natural circumstance has been improved into a very odious imputation, which seems to be less strenuously denied by the apologists, than it is urged by the adversaries, of the faith; that the new sect of Christians was almost entirely composed of the dregs of the populace, of peasants and mechanics, of boys and women, of beggars and slaves, the last of whom might sometimes introduce the missionaries into the rich and noble families to which they belonged. These obscure teachers (such was the charge of malice and infidelity) are as mute in public as they are loquacious and dogmatical in private. Whilst they cautiously avoid the dangerous encounter of philosophers, they mingle with the rude and illiterate crowd, and insinuate themselves into those minds, whom their age, their sex, or their education, has the best disposed to receive the impression of superstitious terrors. Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md), [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > In the life of Augustus we behold the tyrant of the republic converted almost by imperceptible degrees into the father of his country and of human kind. In that of Constantine we may contemplate a hero, who had so long inspired his subjects with love and his enemies with terror, degenerating into a cruel and dissolute monarch, corrupted by his fortune, or raised by conquest above the necessity of dissimulation. Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md) > The power of opinion is irresistible. > But these transient persecutions served only to revive the zeal and to restore the discipline of the faithful; and the moments of extraordinary rigour were compensated by much longer intervals of peace and security. The indifference of some princes and the indulgence of others permitted the Christians to enjoy, though not perhaps a legal, yet an actual and public toleration of their religion. Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > [T]he cause of virtue derived very feeble support from the influence of the Pagan superstition. Under these discouraging circumstances a prudent magistrate might observe with pleasure the progress of a religion which diffused among the people a pure, benevolent, and universal system of ethics, adapted to every duty and every condition of life, recommended as the will and reason of the supreme Deity, and enforced by the sanction of eternal rewards or punishments. Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md) > [T]he Christians, in the course of their intestine dissensions, have inflicted far greater severities on each other than they had experienced from the zeal of infidels. Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > The divided administration, which had been formed by Constantine, relaxed the vigour of the state, while it secured the tranquility of the monarch. Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md) > [T]he progress of despotism ... tends to disappoint its own purpose. Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md) > Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave. Topics: [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md), [fate](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fate.md) > Since the foundation of Rome no general had more nobly deserved a triumph than Aurelian. Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > A people elated by pride, or soured by discontent, is seldom qualified to form a just estimate of their actual situation. Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md) > It is difficult to paint the light, the various, the inconstant character of Gallienus, which he displayed without constraint, as soon as he became sole possessor of the empire. In every art that he attempted, his lively genius enabled him to succeed; and as his genius was destitute of judgment, he attempted every art, except the important ones of war and government. He was a master of several curious, but useless sciences, a ready orator, an elegant poet, a skilful gardener, an excellent cook, and most contemptible prince... There were, however, a few short moments in the life of Gallienus, when, exasperated by some recent injury, he suddenly appeared the intrepid soldier and the cruel tyrant; till, satiated with blood, or fatigued by resistance, he insensibly sunk into the natural mildness and indolence of his character. Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [character](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character.md) > A long period of distress and anarchy, in which empire, and arts, and riches, had migrated from the banks of the Tiber, was incapable of restoring or adorning the city; and, as all that is human must retrograde if it do not advance, every successive age must have hastened the ruin of the works of antiquity. Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md), [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md) > The silence of flattery is sometimes equal to the most positive and authentic evidence. > The timid are always cruel. Topics: [fear](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear.md) > All gates are shut against the unfortunate. > It was probably some ingenious fancy, of comparing the thirty tyrants of Rome with the thirty tyrants of Athens, that induced the writers of the Augustan History to select that celebrated number, which has been gradually received into a popular appellation. But in every light the parallel is idle and defective. What resemblance can we discover between a council of thirty persons, the united oppressors of a single city, and an uncertain list of independent rivals, who rose and fell in irregular succession through the extent of a vast empire? Nor can the number of thirty be completed, unless we include in the account the women and children who were honoured with the Imperial title. Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > But the genius of Constantine himself had been formed by adversity and experience. In the free intercourse of private life, and amidst the dangers of the court of Galerius, he had learned to command his own passions, to encounter those of his equals, and to depend for his present safety and future greatness on the prudence and firmness of his personal conduct. His destined successors had the misfortune of being born and educated in the Imperial purple. Incessantly surrounded with a train of flatterers, they passed their youth in the enjoyment of luxury and the expectation of a throne... Topics: [character](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character.md) > Some particular instances may occur of eunuchs distinguished by their fidelity, their valour, and their abilities; but if we examine the general history of Persia, India, and China, we shall find that the power of the eunuchs has uniformly marked the decline and fall of every dynasty. Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > The paths of error are various and infinite. Topics: [mistakes](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mistakes.md) > [W]henever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind. Topics: [justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice.md) > This variety of objects will suspend, for some time, the course of the narrative; but the interruption will be censured only by those readers who are insensible to the importance of laws and manners, while they peruse, with eager curiosity, the transient intrigues of a court, or the accidental event of a battle. Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > Those who refuse the sword must renounce the sceptre. Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md) > In every deed of mischief he had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute. Topics: [evil](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil.md) > But this splendid exaggeration, which even at present it would be extremely difficult to reconcile with the real state of mankind, can be considered only as the rash sally of a devout but careless writer, the measure of whose belief was regulated by that of his wishes. But neither the belief nor the wishes of the fathers can alter the truth of history. Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md), [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md) > ...in the prosecution of a favourite scheme, the best of men, satisfied with the rectitude of their intentions, are subject to forget the bounds of moderation... Topics: [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md) > Every mode of religion, to make a deep and lasting impression on the human mind, must exercise our obedience, by enjoining practices of devotion; and must acquire our esteem, by inculcating moral duties analogous to the dictates of our own hearts. Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > The true interest of an absolute monarch generally coincides with that of his people. Their numbers, their wealth, their order, and their security, are the best and only foundations of his real greatness; and were he totally devoid of virtue, prudence might supply its place, and would dictate the same rule of conduct. Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md) > If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus. Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > The most civilised nations of modern Europe issued from the woods of Germany, and in the rude institutions of those barbarians we may still distinguish the original principles of our present laws and manners. Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > It was easier to vanquish the Goths than to eradicate the public vices. Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md), [morality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality.md) > The policy of the emperors and the senate, as far as it concerned religion, was happily seconded by the reflections of the enlightened, and by the habits of the superstitious, part of their subjects. The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord. p. 34 Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md) > It has been calculated by the ablest politicians that no State, without being soon exhausted, can maintain above the hundredth part of its members in arms and idleness. Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md) > The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive. Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md) > The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves; and can readily discover some nice difference of age, character, or station, to justify the partial distinction. Topics: [hypocrisy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy.md) > His rash ambition had climbed a height where it was difficult to stand with firmness, and impossible to fall without instant destruction. Topics: [pride](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride.md) > [E]unuchs, that pernicious vermin of the East... > Civil governments, in their first institutions, are voluntary associations for mutual defence. Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md) > Wars, and the administration of public affairs, are the principal objects of history. Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > Vitellius consumed in mere eating, at least six millions of our money in about seven months. It is not easy to express his vices with dignity, or even decency. Topics: [character](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character.md) > There is no surer proof of the military skill of the Romans, than their first surmounting the idle terror, and afterwards disdaining the dangerous use, of elephants in war. Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md) > The contemporaries of Severus, in the enjoyment of the peace and glory of his reign, forgave the cruelties by which it had been introduced. Posterity, who experienced the fatal effects of his maxims and example, justly considered him as the principal author of the decline of the Roman Empire. Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > In the second century of the Christian era, the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilised portion of mankind. Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > A weak prince will always be governed by his domestics. Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md) > It was dangerous to trust the sincerity of Augustus; to seem to distrust it was still more dangerous. Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md) > Antoninus diffused order and tranquility over the greatest part of the earth. His reign is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history; which is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind. Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md) > Clodius Albinus surpassed both his competitors in the nobility of his extraction. Which he derived from the most illustrious names of the old Republic, but the branch from which he claimed descent had long sunk into mean circumstances, and transplanted into a remote province. It is difficult to form a just idea of his character. Under the philisophic cloak of austerity, he stands accused of concealing most of the vices which degrade human nature. Topics: [character](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character.md), [appearances](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances.md) > A warlike nation like the Germans, without either cities, letters, arts, or money, found some compensation for this savage state in the enjoyment of liberty. Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism. Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md) > Wit and valour are qualities that are more easily ascertained than virtue, or the love of wisdom. Topics: [wisdom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom.md)